A mountain lion has been stalking pets and other prey in a mid-Carmel Valley neighborhood and the state Department of Fish and Game has issued a permit to catch and kill it.
A number of pets have disappeared in the neighborhood on Via Serena, and one woman reportedly arrived home late at night and saw a mountain lion devouring a cat in her driveway, according to the state officials.

"I saw it twice," said resident Nina D'Aquanno, once by the mailbox to her neighbor's house and "close enough for me to be screaming and running into the house."

Both sightings occurred about 5 a.m., she said, and her neighbor saw the lion in her driveway shortly after 11 p.m.

Neighbors have reported cats missing and finding animal body parts in their yards, D'Aquanno said. In one case, the father of a child who was playing in the backyard when a mountain lion showed up drove the big cat away by throwing golf balls at it.

"We've been leaving the lights on because we have cats in the backyard," D'Aquanno said, "and leaving a radio on."

Jeannetta Williams, a home caregiver who works in the neighborhood, said residents report repeated visits by the mountain lion on Via Sereno, a short, cul-de-sac off Schulte Road with about 16 houses on it.

The neighborhood is located between All Saints' Episcopal Day School and Carmel River School, and one sighting of the cat was made at Schulte and Carmel Valley roads near a church, she said.

mountain lion's presence have been sent around, Williams said, and neighborhood meetings have been held.
The Department of Fish and Game got its first call about the lion June 28, with a report of pets missing, said wildlife biologist Terry Palmisano. The same woman called the next day to report she had seen a mountain lion in her driveway with a pet cat in its mouth, and that the lion was apparently stalking her pot-bellied pigs, Palmisano said.

A depredation permit allowing the lion to be captured or killed was issued June 30, Palmisano said, and it is still in effect."You can't use firearms safely in that area," she said, "so as far as I know, they're trying to trap it."

From descriptions by residents and the lion's behavior, Palmisano said that it appears to be "one of our typical young, juvenile males."

If the lion is trapped, she said, it would be euthanized - standard procedure for mountain lions who have become too accustomed to prowling human residential neighborhoods - rather than released elsewhere.